SOMETIMES DEAD IS BETTER.

A family moves to a house in Maine that lies next to a highway… and a creepy pet cemetery hiding the secrets of life and death.

Stephen King adapted his own novel that poses interesting questions about the power of grief, but the story is not convincing enough at times; for instance, what family would move that close to a highway? What’s worse, we’re never touched by Louis’s grief; Dale Midkiff’s performance is just too inadequate.

Tasteless and cheap when it should be scary.

1989-U.S. 102 min. Color. Directed by Mary Lambert. Screenplay, Novel: Stephen King. Song: ”Pet Sematary” (performed by Ramones). Cast: Dale Midkiff (Louis Creed), Fred Gwynne (Jud Crandall), Denise Crosby (Rachel Creed), Brad Greenquist, Michael Lombard, Blaze Berdahl. Cameo: Stephen King. 

Trivia: George A. Romero first bought the film rights. Followed by a sequel, Pet Sematary II (1992), and a prequel, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023). Remade as Pet Sematary (2019).